The Mazoku
by Glamourcat
Summary: Z/G Pairing: A Mazoku decides to test the purity and kindness of two siblings.


Title: The Mazoku (Original Title of the Fairy Tale is "The Fairies")  
  
Author: Glamourcat  
  
E-mail: Glamourcat@lycos.com  
  
Part: 1/1  
  
Warnings: I may never stop this trend of fractured fairy tales. Be afraid, be very afraid.  
  
Disclaimer: The Slayers characters aren't mine. In fact they belong to Hajime Kanzaka, Rui Araizumi, Kadokawa Shoten, TV TOKYO, SOFTX and Marubeni  
  
Summary: A Mazoku decides to test the purity and kindness of two siblings.  
  
Distribution: LN, it's all yours, anyone else, ask me first.  
  
Notes: Dear G-d, am I ever going to run out of obscure fairy tales? This dry humor has just hit and it won't let me go! Must go watch Jackie Chan movies until I can talk with a funnier accent.Whoa.where'd that come from? Neveryoumind. Just enjoy the fic.  
  
Once upon a time, in a little village at the edge of a large wood (Okay Rhonda, you can stop sniggering now), a widow lived with her two children.  
  
The elder daughter, whose name was Lina, was so like her mother in character and appearance that one could hardly tell them apart. Both of them were so unpleasant that nobody in the village ever had any desire to even speak with them, let alone seek out their company or make friends.  
  
By contrast, Gourry, the younger, had his dear father's gentle goodness and there was not a single young man or girl for miles around who could compare with his beauty.  
  
The widow lover her elder daughter very much and for the younger son, had nothing but hatred and contempt. Poor Gourry was forced to eat alone in the kitchen and to work from morning till night. He had to wash all the dishes, make all the beds and sweep the stairs every day-which I tell you, is a hell of a lot easier then my job of teaching five year olds how to use scissors and glue sticks but that's beside the point.  
  
Anyway, as if that were not bad enough, he had to sleep on an old straw mattress in a tiny storeroom (and we all know how tall Gourry is, just picture his feet sticking out the doorway), while Lina's room was the largest and most richly decorated in the house, lined with mirrors in which she never tired of admiring herself. Funny thing is, she wound up having to replace the mirrors many times because they inexplicably kept breaking.  
  
What is more, twice a day, Gourry went to fetch water from a spring in the middle of the wood and struggled back home bent over from the weight of the heavy pitcher (Okay, are you happy? I used Gourry with the word wood and wet imagery all in the same sentence!).  
  
The poor boy submitted to all this work and all the indignities heaped upon him without complaint. But at night, when he was alone in his little room, he could not help but cry when he remembered his dear dead father whom he had loved so much.  
  
One day, while he was drawing water at the spring, a little child with purple hair came up to him and in a gay and high-pitched voice, asked him for a drink from his pitcher.  
  
"Why of course, kid!" said Gourry.  
  
He rinsed out the pitcher, drew fresh water from the spring and helped the young child quench his thirst.  
  
"Thank you," he said, wiping his lips. "You are so kind and so pretty that I would like to give you a gift. Every time you open your mouth to speak, either a flower or a precious stone will fall from your lips."  
  
The child was in fact a Mazoku who had disguised himself as a simple child to test the young man's charity and kindness. Why was the Mazoku interested in such things? Well, when questioned he declined a statement, saying only, "That is a secret!"  
  
When Gourry returned home, his mother scolded him for having wasted so much time.  
  
"So you think you can go off for walks, with all the work you have to do here.I'll teach you!"  
  
And with that statement the author suddenly had the brilliant idea of casting Naga as the mother, but then realized with deflated hope that it wouldn't work because Lina was supposed to be like her mother and while the personalities fit-their bra sizes are no where near comparable. So we now return to our regularly scheduled fairy tale.  
  
"Oh mother! Please forgive me for having been gone so long!" said Gourry, and two roses and two pearls fell out of his mouth.  
  
"What - what's happened to you boy!" asked his mother in amazement.  
  
Gourry told her of his strange meeting with the young boy at the spring.  
  
"Here's a chance for us to make our fortune!" his mother cried. "But it isn't fair that you alone should have this precious gift. I'm going to send your sister to the spring."  
  
"Come here Lina! Look what came out of your brother's mouth when he spoke! Wouldn't you like the same thing to happen to you? It's easy! All you have to do is go to the spring and when a poor child asks you for a drink, give it to him."  
  
"You don't seriously expect me to go and fetch water! Well, I just won't," cried Lina in outrage.  
  
But eventually, her mother managed to convince her, and she set off to fetch water in a magnificent silver jug. Almost as soon as she reached the spring, a young man appeared wearing beautiful clothes and magnificent amplifier jewels.  
  
"Could you spare me a drink of water?" he asked politely.  
  
"Who do you take me for.your servant?" Lina shrieked. "If you're thirsty, drink from the spring!"  
  
The man was the same Mazoku who had disguised himself as a child before.  
  
"How very uncharitable you are," said the Mazoku, very calmly and without a trace of anger and quite a bit of amusement. "You shall receive the gift that you deserve too. With every word you utter, a toad or a snake will come out of your mouth."  
  
He vanished, and Lina had no choice but to go home.  
  
"Well? What gift did you get from the child?" her mother asked immediately, "Tell me quickly!"  
  
"Mother," the young girl started to say and stopped as dozens of toads sprang out of her mouth.  
  
"Oh no!" her mother shrieked, jumping back with horror. "What's gone wrong? This must be your brother's doing and he'll pay dearly for it too!"  
  
To escape from his mother's unjust rage (Wait! Amelia as the mother? No, still too big a difference in the bra size-Nevermind), Gourry fled into the woods and spent the night hiding behind a tree crying bitterly.  
  
The next morning, the king's son, Prince Zelgadis on his way back to the palace from a hunting trip, saw him sitting there and stopped.  
  
"What are you doing here, all alone in the woods?" he asked the boy with kind concern.  
  
"Oh sir! How good of you to concern yourself with my sad story." As he wept he told the prince his story and the events that had brought him to be alone in the woods that day. Naturally, while he spoke, precious stones and flowers flowed from his lips until they covered the ground all around him. The prince was so moved by his story and enchanted by his powers that he too the young man back to the palace where he introduced him to his father and to all the court dignitaries.  
  
His sweet and gentle nature soon won all their hearts. That and a single sentence could fund their national debt with precious stones.  
  
A few days later, the royal heralds announced throughout the kingdom that the Prince and Gourry were to be married. The streets brimmed with happy shippers from the Zelgadis/Gourry mailing list, who while puzzled that there was no development of the relationship actually written, where still happy that their boys wound up together. They put on their best Sunday clothes and brought gifts to the couple, mostly video cameras, tapes, and self-addressed stamped envelopes. Though some did bring wine, hoping to get Zelgadis and Gourry drunk enough to let them watch. But, above all, they brought their love and loyalty to the newlyweds.  
  
The wedding ceremony was celebrated amid great pomp and rejoicing, and Gourry and his prince lived happily ever after.  
  
But what ever became of Lina?  
  
At first she was delighted to be rid of her younger brother. Then she flew into such a terrible jealous rage when she heard of his marriage to the prince that she left the village the next day and nobody ever saw or heard of her again.  
  
The End. 


End file.
